The idea of a war room prayer strategy was made popular in 2015 when the movie “War Room” was released in theaters.
The basic idea is that an older woman whose husband was once a general in the army, took the concept of the war room used by military tactical teams and translated it into her prayer life.
But the idea of prayer from a warrior standpoint is far from new. In fact, the term prayer warrior can be found in texts published as far back as 1907.
So what exactly is a War Room?
War rooms are not exclusive to the military. In fact, they are quite common in the business world. And everyone’s war room looks a little bit different. In the military, you might find computers and monitoring equipment inside the war room. You would probably find military intelligence officers and you would most certainly find the walls lined with data, notes and strategies for battle.
Do you need a war room to pray like a prayer warrior?
Have a quiet place where you can move away from the distractions of your everyday life is ideal. But it’s not the only way you can be effective in your prayer life.
How to Create your War Room Prayer Strategy
Get in the right physical space.
Before you start your prayer time it’s important for you to know what exactly you plan to pray about. Having a game plan for your prayer time will make it more effective and more productive. It will also help you know when you are finished.
Post-it notes are great for writing down prayers that you want to pray through during your focused prayer time.
This is helpful because as these prayers become answered I can move them out of my prayer area and into my answered area.
I love to back through the prayers that have been answered especially when I’m feeling particularly discouraged about a prayer that doesn’t seem to be being answered.
Your war room may look like this:
Or it may look like this:
Either way, your goal for creating a war room prayer strategy should be the same:
Create a space where you can move away from distractions and focus in on praying for the things that would naturally call your attention away from your focused time with God.
Personally, I like to turn on an instrumental prayer list. Or sometimes, I’ll use the Abide Christian Meditations to get me started. (You can stream them for free with amazon music. Or they also have an premium membership app available for mobile devices.)
Get in the right head space
When you’re preparing for prayer: be ready to back up your prayers scripturally. Recently, as I’ve been praying for America, I’ve begun quoting the verse from 2
Chronicles 7:14 that says “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
The bible tells us that God will live up to his promises. That’s why it’s so important for us to come to him, knowing what he has promised.
One thing that is important to remember that not every verse in the bible is a promise from God.
For example, Proverbs is often mistaken for a book of promises. For example: “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is older he will not depart from it” is often quoted as a promise given by God. When in fact, it’s not a promise at all.
Proverbs is a wisdom book. It was written from the perspective of wisdom. Meaning, if all were right in the world and every person lived according to God’s original design, and no one ever fell into temptation or veered even slightly off course.
Our world would work as a well oiled machine, exactly as God designed it and everything in the proverbs would always come true.
But we were designed to have free will. And with that free will, comes a very messy and complex world that does not work as it was originally designed.
You can hear more about this concept in the wisdom book series from the bible project.
The point is, study your scripture, and come into prayer prepared. The bible project is actually a fantastic way for your to start learning if you are a beginning bible reader. Another option for a guided reading experience would be to use the devotional series available on the youversion bible app. If you are more advanced and really interested in digging deep on your own, bible gateway has a monthly membership that allows you to access several concordances and study books right next to the scripture on the website!
Get in the right heart space.
When we are coming to God, there are so many things we need to remember about who HE is.
God is a relational being.
He created us for relationship. And, because we were made in his image, we seek relationship too. Not just with a soulmate, but with our parents, our children, our friends, etc.
You have to remember that those desires are born in us and come straight from the Lord.
He is a friend who wants our time and attention. He wants to commune with us and enjoy life with us. He wants to be a part of the things we do, the choices we make, and the conversations we have.
He is a spouse who is hurt by all of the betrayal. He wants us to see that we are hurting Him and that He has loved us so deeply that He deserves to be the One God that we have before us.
He is a father who loves his children and wants each and every one of them to be saved and turn towards him.
In fact, God’s love is as fierce as a mother’s love, as deep as a father’s love, and given as freely as a child’s love. Fierce, deep, and unconditional, that’s the kind of love he has for you.
Knowing that this is the Nature of the God you are praying to, will give you incredible insight into praying prayers that have meaning and power behind them.
Praying isn’t just a way to unload our requests on God. It’s a way for us to talk to this being who loves us like a friend, a father, a spouse, and a child all at the same time.
Remember that you in your war room with a friend.
Talk with Him about your day. Allow him into the things that are frustrating you.
It might feel silly at first because you know God already knows what happened. But he wants you to unload your thoughts on him. He wants to be your sounding board.
And just like talking with a friend, reliving your day with God can be therapeutic in it’s own regard.
Remember to be strategic in your prayers like you’re talking to a parent
You’ve probably heard the verse where we are commanded to pray for our enemies. But have you ever thought about why we do that?
Is it a “keep your friends close and your enemies closer thing?” I don’t think that’s quite right. In fact, I would say this is a lot more like when you call your mom to complain about your sister.
She’s probably pretty quiet on the other end of the line. She may even defend your sibling. Why? Because she loves you both and she can see both perspectives.
Also, when we pray for our enemies, we are inviting God into the life of someone who has otherwise blocked him out (remember we all have free will and God will not step in and orchestrate things if he has not been asked to do so.)
Let’s go back to the idea of your mom and your sister. Let’s pretend for a moment that your sister is having a spa party with one of those direct sales ladies.
She’s struggling to get her house clean, she doesn’t have the money to purchase food for the party, and she’s worried about what your mother will think about her hosting skills.
The LAST thing she is going to do is ask your mom for help. No can do. She’s an independent woman and she can handle it herself.
If you’ve got a good mom, she’d probably be more than happy to step in and help, but she doesn’t want to overstep the bounds.
So YOU invite her to help. You call her up and ask her to come over and help you and your sister prepare, and ask if she’d be willing to pick up some snacks for the party.
She’ll be thrilled to be included and your sister might be mad but ultimately she’ll be grateful that things came together. Most of all, it may help forge a bond between your sister and your mother where your sister is comfortable asking for help.
In my opinion, this is why God’s asking us to pray for our enemies. He loves them and wants to forge a bond and change things in their life, but he hasn’t been invited in.
Remember to Pray with love and consideration like you’re talking to a spouse
When you are entering your war room, remember that it’s not all about you. If you were to sit down and talk to your husband, you may pour all a lot of words about your day, your struggles, your wins, exciting news, etc.
But you’ll also pay attention to them. How is he feeling? Does he seem upset? Does he have something on their mind? Does he need something you can give him?
If you’ve done something he’ll be upset about, even if he doesn’t know about it yet, you’d probably tell him about it and apologize.
This is what it’s like communing with God. Remember that he is relational. We aren’t repenting from our sins for our sake. (Although, for our sake, we need to do it!) But if you can shift your mindset and realize that you are talking to someone who loves you and wants an intimate relationship with you, you may be able to sincerely feel remorse when you know you’ve wronged him.
You may be able to sincerely ask him if theres anything he’d like to talk to you about today.
You may be able to sincerely listen when he asks you to do something.
Remember that although God is relational like a friend, a spouse, and a parent, His ways are high above ours.
When you enter in to prayer, remember that God can see a perspective that you will never be able to see and that he can do supernatural things that you will never be able to imagine.
So remember that not every prayer can be answered the way we want it to be answered.
What to do if you’ve been praying a prayer he just won’t answer.
If you’ve been praying for something and it seems like God isn’t answering, you may want to take one step back to think.
Instead of praying that same prayer today, take a moment to pray this prayer instead.
“Lord, help me know what to pray for when it comes to _______________. If you want me to press in and keep waiting, I’ll do it gladly. But is there another angle that I could come to you with Lord?”
And then listen for God’s response.
Think of it like this.
You’ve been asking your spouse for weeks to stop spending so much time away from home.
But he tells you that he’s been spending time with a friend from work who really needs a positive influence in his life.
He’s worried about the guy and is trying to befriend him so that he might be able to minister to him. You are feeling overwhelmed at home. You want your husband home more and you need help around the house. You need your husband to spend more time at home.
You could keep asking… try to help him see why you need him at home. Maybe he can just spend one day per week working on this guy.
OR: Maybe there is another angle you could come at this. Maybe, you could invite the guy over for dinner and cards every Friday night.
Sometimes, God sees an angle that you don’t. You may be able to get a good result, if you are praying the right prayer.
WHAT TO PRAY ABOUT IN YOUR WAR ROOM:
If you’re not sure where to start when coming up with a list of prayers, use this list of questions to help you write down some ideas.
- Are there any strongholds in your life? Your spouse’s life? You childrens’ lives?
- Is there anyone in your life who hasn’t found salvation? Family, friends, co-workers, that guy at the grocery store… anyone? Remember God waits for us to invite him in.
- Is there anything you are doing, or not doing that you need to talk with him about? Things that might hurt him?
- Is there anyone who might be interacting with your loved ones today (or in the future) that God should be guiding? This could be anything from a business deal at work, to your children’s teachers, or even their future spouse’s?
- Is there anyone who needs God’s protection today? ( This is a trick question, the answer is everyone. I pray for my loved ones, my authorities, my community, my children’s future spouses, etc.)
- Is there a specific something that really breaks your heart and you want to spend time in prayer over that? (For example: Sexual abuse (specifically in children) really breaks my heart. And this is something I spend time inviting God to intervene in quite a bit.)
- Is there anything specific that you feel you need guidance for?
- Is there anyone who is in particular need of wisdom or spiritual growth?
Remember who you are fighting against.
One last thing to keep in mind. You need to know more than just the nature of the God that you are praying to. You need to know the nature of his enemy.
Because Satan will undoubtedly try to get you to stop praying. He’ll try to find sneaky ways to get around your prayers.
He is a liar, a deceiver and he will try to stop forward progress for the Kingdom of God by any means possible.
It’s smart to know exactly what you are up against so that you can pray according.
Do you have any tips that you’d like to share for praying like a warrior?
Share them in the comments!
